Let The Right One In

If you were in my section, you know I chose the novel "Let The Right One In" to nominate for a Pulitzer Prize. I gave a PowerPoint presentation where I expanded upon the commonly known plot and delved into the themes that run throughout the book, a few of which included isolation, cruelty toward children by adults and other children, crime, romance, and, of course, vampirism. I had included a link of the movie's trailer in my presentation, but time ran short and I didn't get to show it to the class. This was honestly one of the best film adaptions of a novel I've ever seen and the bleakness of the book truly translates well onto the screen. The child actors are phenomenal (which, as we know, is a rarity onscreen and even harder to do when the content is serious). Brilliant movie, brilliant book. I'd say it doesn't matter if you choose to watch it or read it first. The book IS more detailed, which is a bonus, and describes more of Eli's background and contains several more scenes that exemplify each of the characters' personalities. However, the film is stark and straightforward. If you haven't read the novel, it's also more shocking. There's pros and cons either way, but I encourage you to check both of them out.

http://www.lettherightoneinmovie.com/

This is the official website for the movie, which came out in 2008, the same time the novel was translated into English. There's already an American remake in the works, which I find disappointing. Why can't we just leave great foreign films alone? Watch them with subtitles. It's not that difficult. There doesn't need to be an "American" version of everything. You're missing half the body of the novel if you take away the setting of Sweden, as the original source includes European child prostitution rings, the "old world" vampire history, European public transit (which is completely absent in the US with the exception of major cities), Cold War worries about Sweden's neighbors, how bloody cold it is in Scandinavian countries, etc, etc....

Death at a Funeral, a British black comedy, was recently re-released as an American comedy and was generally not as well regarded as the original. Why not come out with our own films instead of half-arsed remakes literally TWO or THREE years after the original came out? It makes no sense to me! The director remaking "Let The Right One In" has said that he hopes everyone will give his film a chance and how much he reveres the original, but it leads me to wonder... why not let the world discover how great the original is before slapping an American one on the market? Does this feel like a cultural dominance trend to anyone else? I'd love to hear your opinions, because with the onslaught of Japanese horror remakes, American versions of British comedies, and now, taking about the only thing Americans have heard about from Sweden (with the exception of Moto Boy (swoon!)) has really gotten me going.

Can you think of a remake that ever got your blood boiling?

Oedipus: A Tragic...comedy?

I ran across this little gem a few months ago on my friend's facebook. Someone had posted it to him, saying something about "Oedipus.... with vegetables!" His response? "I can't believe I'm saying this, but that was... strangely compelling." So compelling is the story of Oedipus, the ancient king of Thebes who unwittingly murders his father and marries his mother, that it has a psychological complex named after it. Sohpocles's play Oedipus the King was my starting text for research on the story in my theatre history class, but different plays, odes, novels, and expansions have been penned by Aeschylus, Pindar, Voltaire, and Seneca the Younger. While the content is often too shocking to be the focus of references, it is nonetheless a popular allusion in music, television, literature, and art.

Thanks to the transference of information brought on by the Internet and the unlimited capacities for personal creation possible in the computer age, Oedipus the story is on the rise again. For almost two thousand years, Laius has been slain in traditional mediums like paper and stage props.... but have you ever seen a Greek play re-enacted by vegetables? Whether you think this cheapens the drama of the story, is overwrought with silly references, or actually does a pretty good job retaining the heart of the story and is "oddly compelling", I hope you find this 8 minute short film as enjoyable as I did.

(As a piece of stop-motion film, I have to say it was brilliant! Great voice acting, cheeky, and lovely setting... this wasn't built in a day.)

Briony as a modern manifestation of old-fashioned morality (G) 3/15/2010

Precocious little girls often spell doom. Nabokov most famously penned the “nymphet” archetype in Lolita, with the fanatically pedophilic main character describing one girl as “the deadly little demon among the wholesome children.” While Lolita describes a girl who is sexually precocious while being still that, an immature girl, Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement is centered upon a thirteen-year old girl obsessed with morality, order, and ideals. Briony Tallis is thusfar a fascinating character, unlike any I’ve seen in literature before. Her linguistic intelligence is evident in the tales she writes, short stories and plays littered with large, albeit misused words, and her prolific output either indicates an innate talent for writing or her fascination with creating perfect romance. The Trials of Arabella might seem hilariously infantile, but the play shares roots with the morality plays of the Church during the Dark Ages of Europe. As someone who had to sit through theatre history in the eleventh grade, I was surprised to see such a blatant parallelism between Briony’s play and, say, Everyman. Pageant plays, as they were called, were tautological, didactic affairs where you literally had the Hell scared out of you. The Trials of Arabella follows Arabella as she first chooses to be with a “wicked man”, and then punishes her for running away from her family. Arabella is only rewarded with true love after making the correct decision of man. (3) Briony’s moral compass doesn’t seem to come from the adults around her, making it all the more odd that she would have such a specific and fierce sense of justice. In fact, Briony does not seem to fit in much at all. Her room is a shrine to organization, the only one on the top floor. (5) She shows disinterest in her surroundings and adult problems, such as the divorce of her cousin’s parents. This sense of detachment towards what should be another juicy morality play is interesting and places her attention solely toward stories of her own construction.

In lieu of having her own problems and secrets, Briony creates flawed characters and rules their fate based on repentance. (5) Verdicts in Arabella change after the main character repents; she finds true love only when she realizes her mistake. While this is jumping ahead, one might compare Arabella to Briony’s generic version of Cee, seeming to foreshadow what is to happen. The headstrong daughter has flirtations with a questionable man and runs off with him. Perhaps this is Briony’s prediction of Cee’s behavior; although the play is written for her brother Leon’s homecoming, Cecilia will be sure to attend a small family affair like this. Briony, in her childish fantasy, controls the wayward sister to make everyone else happy- restoring family balance and giving everyone a happy ending. Her tales are really like classic fairy tales in that they warn listeners to behave a certain way and are rather extreme about doing so. This takes place in the early 20th century, long before Disney softened the originally gruesome fates of the stepsisters in Cinderella. You’ve likely heard that in Aschenputtel, the stepsisters traditionally cut off parts of their feet to fit in the shoes of their stepsister. Many versions have birds pecking their eyes out to penalize their deeds. Steely Briony delivers justice in a similar vein, at least in her morality play. One can suspect from foreshadowing and the title of the novel, however, that Briony will be punishing herself much like she punishes her characters. The introduction lets us know how adamantly Briony believes in retribution, and her anal character flaws may in fact be her redemption.